Red Moscow

When the jeep drove towards the northern outskirts of the city, Prochenko turned his head and looked at the place he had been not long ago, and found that the fire was swirling towards him, and the whole block was burning, and the flames were blown by the wind. The fire burned the sky red, everything the fire dragon passed was ignited, houses were burning, street trees were burning...

The streets are crowded with fleeing people, and more and more people are coming from other directions. While the terrified residents were escaping, people kept falling or tripping, but everyone ignored them and stepped over or stepped on them, crushing one unlucky resident to death. Hearing the noisy crying and screaming in the distance, Prochenko couldn't help crying.

When Prochenko was about to withdraw from the north gate with some soldiers, a rain of bullets suddenly flew in his face, knocking down many of the soldiers who rushed to the front. "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" shouted the commanders and fighters who managed to escape the enemy's bullets, hid nearby behind stairs or utility poles, and fired back in the direction of the bullets.

"Comrade commander, there are enemies ahead, get out of the car!" As soon as the jeep stopped, Vanya opened the door and pulled Prochenko out of the car. As soon as the two jumped out of the car, a series of bullets flew over. The driver who hadn't had time to get out of the car was immediately shot to death on the seat.

After the commanders and fighters shot at the enemy blocking the road, a large number of fleeing residents began to appear on the street. In order to escape the fate of being burned to death by the fire, they rushed into the fighting area in a panic. The residents rushing to the front soon fell down in groups under the strafing of German machine guns, and the residents behind did not know what happened in front, but kept pushing forward.

The residents in front fell under the guns of the German army, and the residents in the back stepped on their bodies and continued to rush forward, but were soon knocked down by the oncoming bullets. In a short time, there were layers of corpses of residents who died in various poses across the street.

An officer, who was directing the soldiers to fight back, saw the residents falling in groups under the enemy's guns, and his eyes turned red. He took off the helmet on his head, threw it to the ground, and shouted loudly. : "Brothers, we can't let the enemy kill our comrades like this again. If you are not afraid of death, come with me!"

A dozen soldiers around him responded with a bang, holding their weapons and following their commander, they rushed towards the enemy's firepower point. Their bravery inspired more soldiers, and they also came out of their hiding places one after another, shooting towards the temporary German positions.

The officer shouted loudly and rushed ahead of everyone. In the face of the enemy's dense firepower, he did not hide, but kept shooting with an assault rifle while running, trying to suppress the enemy's firepower. It's a pity that the enemy's location is very hidden, and the bullets he fired didn't hit the target at all.

The German commander, who was in charge of blocking, saw the officer taking the lead in rushing up, and immediately commanded a machine gun to shoot at him. A rain of bullets flew in, and countless blood mist splashed on the officer's body. After turning around in place a few times, he fell limply to the ground. Seven or eight of the soldiers following him also fell under the guns of the enemy, and the rest of the soldiers could only find a hidden position on the spot and start shooting at the enemy.

The flames and battles in the city alarmed Shechtman outside the city. He quickly ordered the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, get in touch with the 762nd Regiment immediately and ask what happened in the city?"

The chief of staff did not wait for Shechtman to finish, and reported to him with a bitter face: "Comrade commander, we lost contact with the city half an hour ago."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Colonel Billing, who came with Shechtman, asked the Chief of Staff nervously, "Have you figured out what happened in the city?"

"Comrade Political Commissar," Colonel Billing asked himself, and the chief of staff hurriedly reported to him, "According to the report from our observation post, there were more than a dozen fires in the city first, and they quickly burned up. I ordered People contacted the 762nd Regiment trying to figure out what was going on, but were unable to get in touch with them."

"Chief of Staff, immediately send someone to the city to conduct reconnaissance and find out what's going on..."

Before the chief of staff could accept the order, the phone on the desk rang. The chief of staff picked up the phone, only to realize that it was Major General Fomenko, the commander of the 84th Division, who opened it. The other party asked straight to the point in the microphone: "What happened in the city? Why are there so many flames and intense gunfire?"

"Comrade General," the chief of staff reported reverently, "since the city was on fire, we have lost contact with the troops remaining in the city, so we have no idea what happened for the time being."

"Could it be that the German army took advantage of the night to counterattack you?" Fomenko also received a telegram from Sokov, saying that the Germans might take action at night and ordered all troops to be more vigilant. Seeing that the headquarters of the 254th Division could not get in touch with the troops in the city at this moment, he naturally thought of Sokov's telegram.

"Comrade General, we don't know the exact situation yet." The chief of staff didn't know the situation in the city at all, so he couldn't answer Fomenko casually, but said vaguely: "We have sent people to conduct reconnaissance, We'll let you know when we figure out what happened."

"Okay." Seeing that there was no useful information to be obtained from the chief of staff, Fomenko did not insist, "I am waiting for your latest news."

After Shechtman and the chief of staff put down the phone, they continued to say to him: "Although we don't know what happened in the city, based on the fact that we couldn't get in touch with the 762nd regiment, they may be surrounded by the German army."

"Comrade Commander, judging from the current situation, the 762nd Regiment must be in danger." Colonel Billing said, "If we wait for the scouts to figure out the situation before sending someone to help them, the 762nd Regiment may have already been wiped out." Yes. I suggest that while sending scouts to carry out reconnaissance, we should withdraw the two regiments outside the city and move quickly to the north of the city. Once we have figured out the situation in the city, our troops can immediately enter the city to support The 762nd in danger."

"Comrade commander, I think the political commissar is right." The chief of staff waited for Colonel Billing to finish speaking, and echoed, "This is the safest way."

"Okay, just do as you said." Seeing that the political commissar and the chief of staff agreed again, Shechtman did not insist on his own opinion, but said kindly: "While sending people into the city for reconnaissance, at the same time move the troops Get near the north gate and be ready to reinforce the 762nd Regiment at any time."

When Shechtman and others discussed sending troops to support the 762nd regiment, the regiment commander Prochenko and chief of staff Vanya were standing on the roof of a three-story building, looking around with binoculars.

After observing the surrounding terrain, Vanya said to Prochenko: "Comrade commander, I found that the enemy not only set fire to the city center, but also a lot of fires to the east and west of us." , but because of the wrong wind direction, the speed of fire spread is relatively slow.”

"What the hell, why did the enemy set the fire so fast?" Prochenko said angrily, "It's only been half an hour since the fire started. See how the fire has spread?"

"Comrade commander, do you still remember those oil barrels I told you about?" Vanya was afraid that Prochenko would not remember them, so he reminded him, "It's the ones that are placed in residential buildings and filled with gasoline. Oil barrel."

"I remember, of course I remember." After Vanya reminded him, Prochenko also understood what was going on in his heart: "So, the enemy put oil drums everywhere in the building to serve as a combustion aid. Effect."

"That's right, that's how it is." Vanya pointed to the distance and said to Prochenko: "Comrade commander, look, the enemy in the distance is setting fire with flamethrowers. With the oil barrels put in, the fire can become uncontrollable in a very short time.”

Possibly to confirm that Vanya's analysis was correct, Prochenko saw a fire dragon rising from a distant building and rushing directly into an open window. Moments later, there was an explosion in the room, flames gushed out of the windows, and the building began to burn.

"It turned out that the enemy was setting the fire with a flamethrower. No wonder the fire spread so fast." Prochenko asked Vanya after saying this, "Chief of Staff, what should we do next?"

"Comrade Commander, the fire is burning towards our position, and in an hour at most, our place will become a sea of ​​flames." Vanya said with a serious expression: "Therefore, we have to break through the enemy's attack at all costs." Intercept and rush out of the city, otherwise what awaits us will either be killed by enemy bullets, or be burned alive by the raging fire that is about to spread."

Seeing the fire burning in the distance along the street bit by bit, Prochenko naturally would not sit still, he made up his mind decisively, and said to Vanya: "Comrade Chief of Staff, we cannot sit here and wait to be killed." Burned to death, the only thing we can do is to launch an attack on the enemy, break through their defense line, and cover the remaining residents to evacuate the city smoothly."

Fortunately, after the heavy casualties not long ago, the residents finally understood that although the fire behind them was terrifying, it would take some time for it to spread. If you rush forward without waiting for your troops to clear the Germans on the road ahead, it is tantamount to dying in vain. The corpses piled up in the streets are a lesson for yourself.

However, several subsequent attacks by the Soviet army were repelled by the intensive firepower of the German army, leaving only more than one hundred corpses and dozens of wounded on the street. Since the health workers were nowhere to be found, there was no one to rescue the wounded who fell on the reception. Some soldiers wanted to drag their wounded comrades to a safe place, but as soon as they emerged, they fell under the guns of German snipers. Seeing this, the rest of the soldiers did not dare to take any more risks. They could only hide in a safe place and shouted to their comrades, hoping that they would continue to persevere.

Humans are not machines, no matter how many adrenal glands they secrete, they cannot be eaten as food. After several offensive failures, the courage originally inspired by his comrades in arms has long been exhausted. Although the soldiers are still launching attacks, everyone can see that the intensity of the attack is more than one level lower than the initial one. However, the German army relied on its geographical advantages and firepower advantages to continuously consume the vital strength of the Soviet army.

Seeing this situation, Vanya couldn't help feeling anxious. He knew in his heart that no matter how brave and capable his commanders and fighters were, under the current circumstances, morale would become more and more low. Break through the interception of the German army, and everyone will be burned alive here.

Prochenko, who was so angry that his lungs exploded, snatched an assault rifle from the soldier's hand and said loudly to Vanya: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you will be in charge here. I will personally lead the soldiers to charge." I don't believe it, I can't kill a bloody road and lead everyone out of the city."

"No, Comrade Commander, you can't do this." Although the commander takes the lead and can play a role in boosting the morale and morale of the army, if Prochenko leads the charge in person, if there is any trouble, then it will be compressed in this The morale of the troops in a small area will drop to the lowest point, and everyone can only wait here to die. Vanya chased from upstairs to the street, and grabbed Prochenko's arm: "You are the leader of the regiment, and you cannot charge like a soldier."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Seeing that Vanya stopped him from leading the charge, Prochenko became anxious: "You have also seen that our commanders and fighters have failed to succeed in several consecutive attacks, and everyone is in a bit of a mood. Depressed. In their current state, even if you order them to attack again, I am afraid it will not achieve any effect. I lead the attack, which can improve everyone's morale, so that the chance of breaking through the enemy's interception can be greatly improved."

The faces of the two were flushed, and no one noticed the sudden sound of cannons. A staff officer pulled Raprochenko's sleeve, and Prochenko, who was angry, yelled at him viciously: "What's the matter?"

"Comrade Commander," the staff officer reported excitedly to Prochenko: "Look quickly, our artillery is bombarding the enemy's position, and our reinforcements are here!"

Looking back in a daze, Prochenko saw fires erupting from the German positions ahead, and he could even hear the whistling sound of bullets flying horizontally.

The Soviet commanders and fighters scattered everywhere, like Prochenko, stared blankly at the flames and gunpowder smoke rising from the enemy's position, and listened to the sound of rumbling artillery.

After a long time, there were sporadic cheers suppressed by the sound of artillery: "Reinforcements, our reinforcements!"

"The teacher sent someone to rescue us!"

After the gunfire stopped, there was another intensive gunfire. It seemed that the reinforcements outside the city had launched an attack on the enemy's position.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Prochenko said to Vanya, "the reinforcements outside the city are attacking the enemy. We must help them, otherwise they will suffer heavy casualties when they rush over."

"Comrade commander, you are right, we should help them." Vanya grabbed the assault rifle in Prochenko's hand, and said to him solemnly: "You stay here to command, I will take people to Respond to the reinforcements outside the city."

After finishing speaking, without waiting for Prochenko to express his opinion, Vanya shouted to the soldiers standing beside him: "Comrades, our reinforcements are coming, come with me!"